Study Pits Windows Versus Linux

eWeek: Study Pits Windows Versus Linux

Microsoft Corp., continuing its anti-Linux campaign, recently released the results of a study the company commissioned in an effort to show that Windows is more reliable than Linux.

The study, conducted by Herbert Thompson, chief security strategist at Security Innovation Inc., of Wilmington, Mass., and titled "Reliability: Analyzing Solution Uptime as Business Needs Change," compared two platforms—Microsoft's Windows Server System and Novell Inc.'s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server—under evolving business requirements over an extended period of time. Interestingly, Thompson made clear that neither the study nor its findings are final or conclusive but rather a starting point for further work.

Thompson said the study pitted Windows 2000 Server against SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8, simulating the one-year period from July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2005. "During this period, we simulated the evolution of an e-commerce company that has changing business requirements while continuing to maintain security through patch application. At the end of the period, both systems are then transitioned to the more recent versions of their respective operating systems, Windows Server 2003 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9," he said in the summary.

Security patches were applied in one-month increments, while new business requirements appeared at three-month intervals...